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September 5, 2007More Americans, Including More Children, Now Lack Health Insurance |
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From Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Between 1998, the year the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was implemented, and 2004, the number of uninsured children fell every year. But since 2004, as the availability of funding for SCHIP expansion has tightened and as a restrictive Medicaid policy enacted in early 2006 has taken effect, progress in enrolling uninsured children in SCHIP and Medicaid has stalled. With employer-based coverage continuing to erode, the number of uninsured children under 18 has jumped by 1 million over the past two years --- from 7.7 million uninsured children in 2004 to 8.7 million in 2006. The new Census data underscore the need for Congress to complete work on --- and the President to sign --- a strong SCHIP reauthorization bill before the program expires on September 30." Rising enrollment in SCHIP and Medicaid was the main factor that drove down the number and percentage of uninsured children from 1998 to 2004. During Senate Finance Committee consideration of the SCHIP legislation on July 17, 2007, Orszag stated in response to a question that, to reach several million uninsured children, the approach reflected in the Senate legislation is "pretty much as efficient as you can possibly get."
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